Another famous
story involving Block 11 is that of the Polish Franciscan Maksymilian Rajmund
Kolbe. In late July 1941, there was a successful escape.

Father
Maksymilian Maria Kolbe

According to camp
policy Lagerführer Karl Fritzsch selected a number of men from the escapee's
block, in this case 15 prisoners from Block 4, to be killed by starvation. After
the final man had been selected, Father Kolbe actually broke ranks and approached
Fritzsch. It was remarkable that he wasn't beaten to death or shot on the spot,
just for this act. He volunteered to take the place of another man whom he knew
had a family. Fritzsch accepted. Father Kolbe was taken to this starvation cell
in Block 11. Still alive after two weeks, he was killed by phenol injection
administered by the Block Elder, Hans Bock, (serial number 5). Bock was one
of the original criminals carefully selected from German prisons to serve as
work foremen and block leaders.

After the war,
the Roman Catholic Church bestowed sainthood on Father Kolbe. In a 1979 pilgrimage
to Auschwitz/Birkenau, Pope John Paul II honored Father Kolbe, and made the
point that he was not the only one to overcome evil: "How many here earned
similar victories? The victorious were people of various faiths, various ideologies,
and surely not only believers."”*

The man whose life
Father Kolbe saved, Franciszek Gajowniczek, survived the camp and lived a long
life (95). He died in 1995.